Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (23 015 437)
Category : Children's care services > Looked after children
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 14 Feb 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s involvement with Mr X when he was in foster care. This is because the complaint concerns events that took place more than 12 months ago and it would have been reasonable for him to bring the complaint to us at the time.
The complaint
- Mr X complained about the Council’s failure to take action when he suffered abuse whilst in foster care.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X was a looked after child by the Council for several years during his childhood and early teens.
- He complained to the Council in December 2023 about the Council’s decision not to end a foster care placement after his carer was found to be abusive, as well as the decision to separate him from his siblings. The Council advised it would not investigate the complaint as it concerned historic events.
- In response to enquiries the Council has confirmed that Mr X first brought this complaint to it in 2020 and it responded at Stage 1 of its complaints process, but Mr X did not respond and the complaint did not progress further.
- Mr X has brought the complaint to the Ombudsman because he remains unhappy with the Council’s actions. The Ombudsman will not usually exercise discretion to investigate events that took place more than 12 months before the complainant became aware of them unless there are good reasons to do so. The evidence shows Mr X has been aware of these complaint points since at least 2020. It therefore would have been reasonable for him to bring this complaint to us sooner. Presently there is no good reason to exercise discretion to investigate events that took place this long ago.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the complaint concerns events that took place more than 12 months ago and it would have been reasonable for him to bring them to us at the time.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman